Sri Lanka Cricket chief says Galle pitch not dangerous

Colombo: The match referee may have declared the Galle Stadium pitch poor leading to an ICC inquiry, but Sri Lanka Cricket chief Upali Dharmadasa said the pitch was not dangerous by any means.

The first Australia-Sri Lanka Test of an ongoing series was played here and there were complaints of the pitch being too dusty.

"You see no one got injured by playing on the surface at Galle. Moreover one batsman scored a century and another got a 95 on the last day of the match," Dharmadasa said on Wednesday.

He said over 800 runs were scored on the pitch and it was challenging both the sides equally.

He discounted the dust being an issue to rate the pitch sub-standard.

The ICC announced an inquiry into the "sub-standard pitch" prepared in Galle after it was rated poor by Chris Broad, the Match Referee.

ICC General Manager David Richardson and chief match referee Ranjan Madugalle will now consider all the evidence, including studying video footage of the match and submissions from the SLC, before reaching their decision.

Australia coasted to a 125 run win in the match taking a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

Galle has traditionally been a happy hunting ground for Sri Lanka with hosts losing only four of the 18 Test matches played there.